A new beginning
by Exslackerxe
Summary: Just like the title implies, this story is about a new beginning.
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer**: The characters do not belong to me but to a large faceless multinational corporation or corporations. Please don't sue, I'm already deep in debt as is.

It was not often that such a meeting would take place amongst such developed intelligence in this galaxy in this universe. The last such occurrence had been eons ago. From what he remembered of that particular meeting, it had not resulted in any changes. The lesser races generally did not accomplish much in their existence before they succumbed to the ravages of time or space or dimensional pressures. When would the inferior races realize that they should not mess with the natural order of the multi-verse? Q appeared in a bright flash to the brief surprise of the other members of the meeting and interrupted their discussion.

Amongst the participants were the Metrons, the Organians, a member of the Douwd, and a Traveler. He was a bit surprised to see a Douwd at the meeting since they were generally found in other more interesting galaxies in this particular universe. His surprise was that he was surprised. Being near omniscient and near omnipotent meant that there were times that he was caught unawares of the minutiae of existence of others. Of course, if he wanted to, he could easily see the many possibilities but decided he would like to be surprised in this instance.

The purpose of the meeting was an intriguing experiment in his opinion. Another member of the Q had remembered about this meeting and the purpose behind the meeting and decided to pass the information to Q since he seemed to have such a strange fascination with this particular insignificant species and their development.

The Traveler was a bit surprised at the sudden appearance of Q. He had a few run-ins with this particular Q in other galaxies but did not expect him to arrive at this meeting.

"Hello Q, I did not expect to see you at this meeting."

"Normally such meetings are beneath me Traveler, but another member of the Continuum thought I might be interested in this meeting because of my fascination with this species. And I must say that Q was right, I am intrigued. That and the fact that it was my doing that caused the Borg to be aware of the existence of the Federation much earlier than they would have. I must say again that I am a little intrigued at the audacity of your plan."

"I would have preferred that you had not introduced the Borg to the Federation just yet. Though I do understand the need for them to be aware of the Borg, they were not yet ready. Unfortunately, many of us here are uncertain of what will happen and are a bit wary of altering the future of these people. Also, unlike you or me, the people here are primarily limited to this dimension while we are not limited to a particular dimension or a particular universe in the multi-verse. So of course, they are hesitant of interfering since they do not know if another universe might be better or worse for the remains of humanity."

"Frankly Traveler, you should not be involved either since you do not understand the consequences of your actions. Be advised that the particular universe you wish to transport this group, have some beings who might not like their presence. In fact, I dare say, your actions would result in a war amongst the various races that your group will come in contact with."

"I have traveled there before and am aware of the possibility. But I would like to save the life of a particular individual who I feel has the ability to rise above his current situation and evolve into a higher consciousness."

"You are talking about that Crusher boy on the Enterprise? Yes, I am aware of his potential and he is a fine example of the possibilities of this species. There are multiple versions of him that will survive in the multi-verse, so why this particular one?"

"Well, you are right there are many versions of him throughout the multi-verse. However, I want as many of them to survive so that they may develop to the fullest of their almost unlimited potential and I feel that his presence in this universe might have a positive effect on his development."

"Yes, I understand. I must say, I am interested in it for a wholly different reason and I will monitor the situation. However, if you do transport them from their home universe to another, the Q will not let you interfere further with their development. The Q will not permit you to contact young Mr. Crusher, until he comes to a higher understanding on his own."

"Of course, but you will allow me to transport the group and alter the natural progression of these two universes?"

"The Q will neither help nor hinder you in your endeavors. For you to succeed, I assume you will need the combined abilities of the various groups you have gathered here. You yourself have the ability to move through the multi-verse, but you do not have the power to transport the number that you intend. Will the rest of the species here involve themselves in this plan?"

The others who had gathered thought it over and decided to voice their opinions. They all knew who the Q were since the Q had introduced themselves at one point or another to every species that reached a certain level of development. The Q had also placed obstacles in the development of their individual races like the humans. While they had passed those tests, it seems that the humans were not going to succeed in this test with the Borg. The Q's near omniscience and near omnipotence only made them fickle and that made them dangerous. Of course, the Q are so much further up the proverbial evolutionary ladder than the assembled group that a comparison of an Organian or a Metron to a single celled amoeba would not be inaccurate. If the Q wanted to, any member of the Continuum could eliminate all of them from existence with a single thought. It was good that the members of the Continuum had such rigid rules against interference with more evolved life that had spared them.

The Organian representative decided to voice his decision.

"Excuse me, Traveler, but the Organians have experience with this particular species in our past and decided it was best to leave them alone after a brief involvement. However this war and resulting destruction is extremely hurtful to us and we do not wish to see humanity extinguished. Unlike you or Q, we are not able to cross to another universe. Nor do we have that much desire to cross into another universe since there is still so much to learn here. The ability to move between universes with thought is still beyond us but we will lend out power to augment your own so that you may transport humanity elsewhere."

The Metron delegate had also decided to help and voiced his opinion.

"The Metron also agree with your plans and will lend our ability to help you as well. After our first meeting with the Federation, we felt they were not yet ready for full contact with us. We had offered to the Federation that they contact us in another 900 years if they were still around, but that no longer seems likely. Humanity does have potential to grow and it would be a shame for them to be extinguished from existence at this point in their development. We will help you with your plan to save them from their current situation."

The Douwd remained seated and sighed heavily. The last time the Douwd, also known as Kevin Uxbridge, had met a member of the Q Continuum was over three years ago. He had just wiped out the Husnock species with a single thought and the Enterprise had felt they did not have the power nor right to judge him. Of course, the Q did have the power and right to act as a judge of his actions. They decided that his actions did not merit severe punishment such as making him mortal but they did prevent him from continuing to recreate his wife with his powers. The Q did not particularly care about the Husnock since they were at an evolutionary end. Also they felt that 50 billion lives extinguished with a single thought did not amount to much in the grand scheme of things.

"I will help with my power to support your plan as well." He still regretted his momentary anger that resulted in the annihilation of the Husnock. This assistance to preserve humanity would help ease his mind somewhat. He decided then and there, that once he helped to tip the balance in favor of life a little in this galaxy, he would leave and travel to another.

The Traveler nodded his appreciation at the two groups and at the Douwd. He only needed to convince the group living in the stable wormhole to allow him to change the wormhole so he could create a trans-dimensional gateway to another universe. Their completely non-linear existence was a problem since they did not understand the concept of time and therefore that life could end, but they also had the only stable wormhole in this part of the galaxy. With the added power of the Organians, Metrons and the Douwd to his own, he would be able to open a large enough gateway to transport a million or more beings and hundreds of ships. It was a shame Q did not offer to help since he could have transported humanity with the snap of his fingers.

After the approval from the various beings, the delegates disappeared one by one and soon he was left only with Q. He wondered why Q was interested. He knew that most members of the Continuum were bored with existence and therefore remained in the Continuum. He could not fathom ever being bored with the wonders of the multi-verse. But then again, he had not been in existence for time immemorial. He figured he would find out why Q was interested in his plan eventually and that was good enough. He said his goodbyes to Q and went to seek the beings in the wormhole.


	2. Invasion

**Disclaimer**: The characters in this story belong to someone else.  I'm just borrowing them for the time being and promise not to cause them any harm.  If I do, I'll travel back in time and undo any harm that may or may not have occurred.

Captain's log

It's been a while since my last entry into the log. Before embarking on my next assignment, I've decided to make an entry of the events that have transpired over the last five years.

Five years ago, we encountered the Borg again. The Borg captured Captain Picard and transformed him into Locutus to act as a Borg representative to humanity. We mounted a rescue mission in hopes of retrieving the Captain from the Borg but were repulsed. The modifications we made to the deflector dish in our attempt to destroy the Borg cube when the attempted rescue of Captain Picard failed were ineffective because the Borg had already gained knowledge of our plans when they assimilated the captain into their collective. In addition, our modifications also damaged our engines which prevented us from joining the hastily assembled fleet by Admiral Hanson at Wolf 359.

Once we made necessary repairs, we journeyed to Wolf 359 in hopes of joining in the battle against the Borg. But we were too late. The Borg destroyed 39 of the 40 ships at Wolf 359 and the lone surviving vessel had headed elsewhere for repairs. We proceeded to Earth in sector 001 to join whatever defenses Starfleet was massing against the Borg cube and hoped we would not be too late.

But again we were too late. The Borg had warped in close to Earth orbit and proceeded to assimilate as many people as possible. By the time the Enterprise entered Sol system, major cities as well as Space Station McKinley were broadcasting distress calls. McKinley had Borg drones throughout the station and their numbers were growing. Hundreds of Borg drones appeared in Paris, New York and San Francisco. Starfleet headquarters and the Academy were inundated with drones that were beginning the assimilation process. Earth had fallen to the Borg; we just didn't know it yet.

I ordered the Enterprise and all ships in the system to launch an attack on the Borg cube orbiting Earth. A general message was broadcast to all ships to head for Sector 001 in a head on assault against the Borg. Reports were coming in from Earth of some resistance but it was rapidly crumbling. Our attack against the Borg cube was an utter failure. The Borg cube took all the punishment the Enterprise and the rest of the ships in the system doled out like it was nothing. When it did begin to notice our presence, its beam weapon cut through ships left and right. Our shields, like our weapons were next to useless. The attack was repulsed with ease but it did buy some time to allow transports and other ships to flee from Earth.

The Enterprise along with about a dozen ships limped to Mars and the Utopia Planitia shipyards for repairs and to rearm the ships. We then waited for a day so more ships could join in another fight against the Borg cube. When we felt we had enough ships and weaponry, we attacked the cube in force. Only problem was that by that time, the Borg had control of the Earth based defenses as well as Space station McKinley as well as the nearly indestructible cube ship. Our attacked failed again but we kept trying over the next week. But with each passing day, it became more and more apparent that the Borg had established a beach head in the Alpha Quadrant and would not be leaving anytime soon. Ships continually fled from Earth but the Borg did not care. There would still be billions of lives they could assimilate.

Starfleet command was reestablished on Mars, at least what remained of command. An unknown signal was sent by the Borg to parts unknown, but everyone who knew of the signal had their suspicions. While the attacks against the Borg cube continued, preparations were made to evacuate the Sol system. The number of starships littering the space near Earth was a clear indicator that the only reason the Borg did not take the offensive was because it was waiting for something to happen.

A week after the signal was sent; headquarters on Mars detected a spatial anomaly about a light year from Earth. Another attack was made against the Borg cube while other ships headed out toward the spatial anomaly. The attack against the cube failed again while the ships sent toward the anomaly were all destroyed by the eight Borg cubes that had come through the transwarp vortex. Preparations that had been under way for an evacuation of the Sol system were now done with more urgency. The orbital portions of the Utopia Planitia shipyards had been modified so it could travel away from the system on its own. The shipyard immediately went to warp when news of the destruction of the fleet outside Sol system was reported. Thousands of scientists and engineers fled in civilian transports. The combat capable ships stayed behind to delay the Borg vessels from approaching Mars.

Luck was finally on our side for once. Only one cube headed towards Mars, the other seven took off in various directions. Nobody knew where they had gone, but according to the vectors, they were headed towards the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the Cardassian Union, the Tholian Assembly and the other major powers in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. At that moment, though, all we cared about was that only one more cube would be in the Sol system. The assembled fleet went to attack the Borg cube headed towards Mars to delay it as much as possible. Many would escape but many more would be left behind. It was like déjà vu with Earth a week earlier. After an hour of trying to fight the new Borg cube, the remaining ships fled the system. The Sol system was effectively in Borg control and out of the war against the Borg.

A month after the Borg entered Federation space, intelligence reports indicated that the Borg were in control of Earth, Cardassia Prime, Romulus and Remus, as well as Q'osnos and Tholia. All groups that tried to attack the Borg were repulsed. The major powers of the Alpha and Beta quadrants were in a state of war against a new invader and their once mighty fleets fell to the onslaught of the Borg. In a year, hundreds of star systems fell under Borg control and all were in the process of being assimilated. For the next two years, the remnants of the various powers in the Alpha and Beta quadrants continued the fight without any success. The Borg adapted relentlessly to the attacks and continued their march across the stars.

It was a little over three years since the war began that hope began to die. One by one, star systems were attacked and assimilated. Starships and starbases were captured or destroyed with every encounter with the Borg. The Federation tried to find allies, but everyone had enough problems with the Borg in their territory and the fact that Locutus was on the Borg vessel led to great hatred of the Federation. Starfleet command sent ships to try to contact races that might have the power to fight the Borg like the Metrons and the Organians, but the Organians refused to fight against the Borg while the Metrons refused to meet our envoys. The Enterprise sought out the alien Douwd on Ranos IV but he refused to kill any more beings after the destruction of the Husnock. Q was nowhere to be found but even if he could, it was his fault that the Borg knew of the Federation.

All hope was lost in our fight against the Borg. Nothing we tried, nothing we did was successful. With each passing day or month or year, more and more Borg cubes were detected. Estimates at the time indicated that there were hundreds if not thousands of cubes throughout known territory. There was talk that the Federation would fall in a matter of months if it hadn't already. Command was instituting plans to flee Federation space and travel to other parts of the galaxy in hopes of at least surviving the Borg. It was then that we met someone who was willing to help us.


	3. Meeting

**Disclaimer**:  They're not mine, they're not mine.  Don't sue, don't sue.

"This is the Enterprise to all ships, transport as many survivors off the ships as possible and retreat to point Epsilon Alpha Epsilon." Captain Will Riker looked at the carnage displayed on the view screen and saw dozens of wreckages. Just two hours earlier, the assembled ships were an impressive collection that showed the might of the Federation. The assembled fleet would have been enough to deter other empires like the Romulans or the Cardassians not to attack the Federation. The Borg was not deterred. If anything, the Borg treated the once mighty Federation ships like a nuisance, a minor one at that. The battle, if one could call a one sided affair a battle, was probably over before it started. The Borg adapted relentlessly to the weapons trotted out by the Federation ships. The phaser blasts and the barrage of torpedoes caused negligible damage to the cube on its journey to Antica. After two hours and many destroyed ships, the fleet decided it was time to leave. Another couple of billion lives would be lost to the Borg collective over the next year on Antica but three years after the Borg made their presence known, the sight was not uncommon.

Riker headed to his ready room to go over details of the battle and report to Fleet Admiral Shanti the details of another debacle while the remains of the fleet headed to Corvis Minor, or as he broadcasted to the other ships, Epsilon Alpha Epsilon. He and the rest of Starfleet knew the Borg would intercept and analyze the broadcasts and would head to a stated location with a couple of cubes to crush the assembled Federation ships. All communications would be coded and changed weekly so the Borg could not catch them with unaware like they had near Vulcan that first year.

As Riker sat down on his chair, it still didn't feel like his after these last two years, he picked up the PADD from his desk. He continued to regret the fact that he hadn't been able to stop the Borg and rescue Captain Picard more than two years ago. He cleared his head and went over the recordings of the recently completed battle. According to the information, his hunch was right. The newly deployed quantum torpedoes had some effect on the Borg cube, but it was much less than it should have been. According to Fleet estimates, the newer torpedoes should have caused significant damage to the cube before they could adapt. But his suspicions were that the Borg had better information about the capabilities of the Federation than Starfleet did with their hostile takeover of the major Federation planets starting with Earth and the Sol system.

He continued to read the most up to date report from Starfleet. It was estimated that in another year, the fight against the Borg would be negligible because Starfleet would run out of ships. Initially hundreds of ships could be counted on for an assault against a Borg cube, now it was only a couple of dozen ships per attack. By next year, the projections were that it would be about a dozen ships per attack but probably less. A year after that, there would probably be only dozens of starships left in all of the Federation.

He continued to read the reports of the various other powers in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The Cardassians were currently in a worse position than the Federation. When the eight Borg cubes entered the Alpha Quadrant after its conquest of Earth, two cubes left for the Cardassian Union. Starfleet did not learn of it until a month later when all Cardassian ships were called back to defend the Cardassian planets. Most of their fleet was destroyed after a long running battle over Cardassia Prime. They continued to fight for that first year, but effective resistance had ended. Rumors were that there was still minor resistance on the outer rims of the empire but that about a hundred ships had fled from Cardassian space to parts unknown in the second year of their fight against the Borg. Right now, the only reports Starfleet got about the situation in Cardassian territory was which planet was currently being assimilated by the Borg and not about any resistance the Cardassians were putting up.

The situation was not much better for the Klingon Empire. Two of the eight Borg cubes headed for their territory. One went to Q'osnos and subdued the ships in that sector as easily as they had done in the Sol system. The other went to another major planetary system of their empire. Adding to the problem was that High Chancellor Kmpec and the rest of the Klingon Council were killed or assimilated in that first battle against the Borg. This resulted in a Klingon civil war by two major factions and a few smaller ones. Gowron's group attacked the Borg and tried to reclaim Q'osnos and many of his forces died as a result. Duras's group held back and tried to defend their territory, but they died when the Borg came. It didn't matter which side Klingons were on, the Borg attacked both sides and assimilated them anyway. The fall of the Empire was faster than expected. While the Klingons fought bravely, they were overmatched by the Borg. The worst of it was that the Klingons refused to flee, seeing that as an act of cowardice and many perished in battle. A head on attack against a superior force was not brave, it was foolish and in the end suicidal. Latest reports from Starfleet indicated few if any surviving Klingon ships and none in Federation space.

The Romulan Star Empire was also in a precarious position. While the Federation was busy attacking the Borg in sector 001, the Romulans assembled a large fleet and began attacking Federation colonies on the Federation side of the Neutral Zone. Starfleet was otherwise occupied with trying to defeat the Borg so could not do much against the Romulan fleet. But their got their comeuppance when two of the eight Borg cubes headed to Romulan territory. The Borg engaged the Romulan forces in Federation space and routed them back to Romulan territory. The two cubes then proceeded to Romulus and Remus and decimated the hastily assembled fleet in the system. Reports were that the Romulans had lost over 1000 ships in the system and only a handful limped away. It was all downhill for the Romulans then because their best ships were used in the attack against the Federation and the Borg destroyed two full fleets of ships. The cloaking devices which were so useful against the Federation did not protect them. If anything, it made them easier targets because the Borg easily detected their cloaked ships and blasted them away before the ships could decloak and return fire.

The Tholian Assembly had fallen over a year ago as has the Gorn Empire. Right now there were hundreds of cubes in Federation territory as well as Cardassian, Klingon and Romulan space.

Riker sighed heavily. He did not like what he was reading and the obvious conclusion to be drawn from the reports. It seemed the Federation had two options: one was to continue to stand against the Borg; the other was to flee like the Cardassians. The Klingons and Romulans did not have any success with the fighting method. Maybe the correct way would be to flee from the Borg and hope to come up with something to counterattack the Borg at a later date. He would have to bring that idea to Starfleet Command who as yet did not see the picture he was saw at the frontlines.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere a being appeared and said, "Hello, Captain Riker."

Riker looked up from the PADD at the sudden appearance of a man a few feet away from him. He reached for his phaser thinking it might be a new form of attack by the Borg and pointed the weapon at the strange looking man in from of him. It took a moment before he recognized him as the Traveler, the strange being that had propelled the Enterprise into another galaxy a few years ago. "Traveler, what are you doing here? Speaking of which, how the hell did you get here?"

"I've come because you need help and I want to help."

That statement caught Riker's attention. "The Borg, what can you do about them?"

"Unfortunately, I cannot help you in your fight against the Borg. That power is beyond me and I cannot destroy them in any event."

"Then what help are you willing to give us?" Riker didn't like beings that had the power to protect people but just watched from the sidelines as humanity and the rest of the Federation got assimilated by the Borg. His bitterness probably had to do with the fact that the Federation's attempts of getting help from the Organians were rebuffed.

"I see that you are having thoughts about possibly leaving this area of the galaxy to escape from the Borg. I can help you with that. I cannot help you in defeating the Borg."

"Why the hell not!? You propelled the Enterprise over two million light years into another galaxy with your mind. Then you propelled us billions of light years in the other direction. You can probably do the same with the Borg. Or maybe you have the knowledge to build weapons that would be effective against the Borg."

"The answers to both statements are yes. However, I am limited in what I can do to offer your Federation help. There are other beings in this universe that would rather let things play out as they currently are rather than interfere."

"Oh? It was that damn Q that introduced the Borg to us and this invasion by the Borg is a result of his actions. If he hadn't introduced the Borg to us, then none of this would have happened and billions that are dead or assimilated can still be alive today!" Riker was mad at so called superior beings and their attitudes. They didn't want to interfere now after the Borg had arrived but did not show the same restraint when introducing the Borg to the Federation.

The Traveler looked at Riker as he railed against superior beings like Q. If only Riker knew that the Borg would come eventually and the Federation would have been even less prepared than they were now than when the Borg made their appearance in the future. Q's introduction at least gave the Federation a chance. And while it had not worked in this universe, he knew that the result in other universes were on a more positive note. "Captain Riker, please, your yelling is not going to change what has happened. Q did what he did for a reason. While you may not agree with his actions, they were done and there is nothing you or I can do anything about it. What's done is done. I offer my help to you in another way."

Riker sighed. He knew the Traveler was right. He was just angry over Q and over his own failed attempts to stop the Borg. "Okay, so what help can you give us?"

"I'm offering the Federation a chance to at least salvage your way of life. There is a wormhole located in this part of the galaxy close to Federation territory. It is located in the Bajoran system. This wormhole unlike others is unique because it is a stable wormhole." The Traveler was about to continue when Captain Riker interrupted him.

Riker rolled his eyes at the Traveler's plan. "Excuse me, but the stable wormhole will only take us to a different part of the galaxy or maybe even another galaxy. But who's to say the Borg won't follow us there and continue to assimilate us until we're all part of the Collective?"

The Traveler gave a small smile and continued, "If you let me finish. As I was saying, the wormhole is a stable one. I have talked with the beings known as the Bajoran Prophets who reside in that wormhole as well as other beings in this galaxy and they have agreed to help me transform the wormhole into a trans-dimensional gateway. The Borg will not be able to follow you once the gateway is closed. It will not take you to another part of this galaxy or even another galaxy in this universe. Instead the wormhole will send you to another universe, a new universe where the Borg does not exist."

Riker thought it over. He had thought about running from the Borg since the disastrous battle over Betazed during the first year of the Borg invasion. He thought about it again every time another major Federation planetary system was taken over by the Borg. It did sound like a better option than to continue the fight. In his heart of hearts, he knew that resistance was futile. The only thing saving them from a direct Borg attack was time because the Borg had so many systems to choose from to assimilate. And he also knew that luck would run out eventually. The Enterprise had fought dozens of campaigns against the Borg and each time was less successful than the time before. It took longer and longer to repair the ship for the next battle. He decided to get as much detail about this option as possible, "Sounds like an option. How big is this wormhole and how long will it stay open to this new universe? Can we come back to this one once we've come up with a way to defeat the Borg?"

"You can come back to this universe, but you will have to do it on your own. Neither I nor the other beings helping me will be with you in the other universe. You may find a way back someday, but your race will not have that ability for thousands if not millions of years. Most races never evolve to the point where they can travel to another universe." The Traveler paused a bit after this. He looked at Riker and went over the calculations in his head before he continued his response. "As for your other question, the mouth of the wormhole is large enough to accommodate up to a dozen ships the size of the Enterprise through at once and will remain open for only one hour. Unfortunately I can only keep a stable connection with this other universe for so long even with the help of others."

"An hour? But that means that many others will be left behind to the Borg. That's not much of an option if only few will be able to get away."

"I agree that it is not a lot of time, but it's all I can do. You will need to consult with your leaders to make the decision. But should you decide to take my offer the wormhole will open in 3 months time from today at this hour. My advice is to take as many ships and people as you can to the Bajoran system and run when the wormhole opens. The Borg will get to you sooner or later if you stay. At least this way, some of the Federation can still survive even if the majority of you will not."

The Traveler was right and Riker knew it. "Agreed, I'll pass along your offer to Starfleet Command."

The Traveler nodded and faded away thinking that he was able to at least save some of the Federation from the Borg.

Riker tapped his comm badge and ordered all senior officers on the Enterprise to the conference room to discuss his meeting with the Traveler. He had already concluded that it was definitely an option he would consider and probably take, but he wanted to find out what the others on the ship thought. Maybe he would talk with Guinan as well. Her people had encountered the Borg and the survivors had fled to other parts of the galaxy. She of all people knew that no matter how far you ran in this galaxy, the Borg will come for you eventually.


	4. Exit Strategy

**Disclaimer:** Nothing belongs to me. Not the ships and not the characters. I'm just using them for my enjoyment.

**Notes: **Sorry about the delay, but sometimes life just gets in the way. As for the story, the idea initially was to just use the Riker and Enterprise from the dimension where the Federation was destroyed by the Borg mentioned in the episode Parallels. Also, this story is a crossover with the B5 universe. It's just taking me a while to set up the first contact between the two groups.

* * *

A week before the departure date, all the ships were gathered in the B'hava'el system, most around the planet Bajor waiting for the moment when the wormhole would appear. There were over a thousand ships of various designs. Most were transport ships filled with civilians and refugees of Borg assimilated worlds. The ships capable of fighting a Borg cube were on the fringes of the system in case the Borg decided to crash the large assembly of ships.

It was a good thing the fleet was deployed in such a way because the Borg made their appearance a day before the wormhole was scheduled to appear. Fleet Admiral Shanthi died in the ensuing battle and a hundred other Federation ships were destroyed. The Battle Bridge of the Enterprise was severely damaged in the fight and had to eject her warp core to avoid complete destruction. But in the end, the sheer number of ships overwhelmed the Borg defenses and destroyed the cube. We all knew the Borg would eventually send more cubes into the area and hoped they would arrive after the ships had departed. Unfortunately four Borg cubes arrived hours before the wormhole was scheduled to appear.

Another battle raged on against the four cubes and many more ships were destroyed. Hundreds more ships went down against the combined might of the Borg cubes. The saucer section of the Enterprise was being cut up by a Borg cube when it suddenly stopped. The end, when it came was sudden and unexpected. The four cubes all exploded at once and nobody in the fleet had any idea why that occurred. Commander Shelby took charge in getting the ship repaired while I tried to find out from Command what happened. They were as clueless as I was and they were trying to find out what happened as well. But I found out why the cubes were destroyed when I received an unexpected visitor on the bridge.

FLASHBACK

"Hello, Captain Riker. You finally received a well deserved promotion, I see. And I see the Borg are making their presence felt in this part of the galaxy."

"Q! What the hell are you doing here? This is your fault. If you hadn't introduced the Federation to the Borg, none of this would be happening."

"Au contraire. How limited your understanding of the universe, Riker. It's a shame Picard didn't survive his encounter with the Borg. Or should I say Locutus of the Borg. The Borg had already discovered the existence of the Federation before I introduced you to them. I was actually trying to help you by letting the Federation know of the existence of the Borg. It's not my fault that the Federation were too slow to react to the Borg threat. Had your Federation been more aggressive in developing a strategy or better technology against the Borg threat, this destruction might have been avoidable. Instead, your Federation wasted their resources on minor threats like the Romulans or the primitive Cardassians."

Riker didn't believe Q for a second. He wanted to draw his phaser and shoot him but knew that it wouldn't do any good. Nevertheless he did it anyway. As expected the blast had no effect on Q, but it did make Riker feel slightly better.

Q smiled as the phaser hit him squarely in the chest with no effect. "Now that you've got that out of your system, I'll explain my presence on your ship before your little journey. And yes, I know about your travel plans. In fact, I had a conversation with the Traveler about it and gave him my blessings. However, I'm not here to talk about that. The Continuum has sent me here on an important fact finding mission. I'm here to relieve you of a member of your crew."

"No. We don't want anything to do with you or with the Continuum. Get off my ship and leave my people alone." Riker didn't like the smirk on Q's face. But in reality, there wasn't much he could do about Q. He already tried shooting him with his phaser. If Q wanted to take a member of his crew, he couldn't stop him.

"Please, Riker. At least hear what I have to say and believe me when I say that I'll be doing you a favor. Presently, you have a young woman in the medical bay that is not what she seems." Q then snapped his fingers and Riker and Q both appeared in sick bay, much to the shock of Dr. Crusher and her staff. Q looked around at the gathered individuals and spotted the nervous young woman with blonde hair in the back.

"Ms. Rogers, if you would be so kind to step forward a bit and let me take a good look at you."

"Listen Q, like I said earlier. I won't allow you to take a member of my crew. Now get off my ship." Riker unclenched his fists as he said this. Q really got on his nerves and he was already tense waiting for the wormhole to appear and hoping that more Borg cubes wouldn't suddenly arrive in the system. Another attack by the Borg might wipe them out before they could get a chance to flee. The Enterprise saucer section was in no shape for another battle. And the Battle Bridge was too severely damaged to make the journey or be of much use as salvage.

The young woman looked at the strange officer next to the captain. She had just been hoping that the Borg cubes explode a few minutes earlier when the Enterprise was under attack. When the attack suddenly stopped she had breathed a big sigh of relief that she just might live another day. When the stranger singled her out and asked her to go up to him, she was nervous but went up anyway. "Excuse me, but what do you want to see me for?"

"Ah, Ms. Rogers. My name is Q and I am a member of the Q Continuum. In case you don't know who I am or what the Continuum is, let me explain. The Q are a near omnipotent group. We exist outside of space and time and dimensions. We are here, there, everywhere, and every when. As to why I want to see you, let me enlighten you and Captain Riker here."

"No Q, don't enlighten us. Just get off my ship and leave us alone." Riker had had it with Q. They might be a near omnipotent species but they also had an ego bigger than the universe.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you Captain Riker, but Ms. Rogers cannot be allowed to go with you." The group of people around him were surprised by his statement and angry that he made such a threat. They all knew Amanda as a brilliant young girl who had made her way onto the ship only a few months ago. They did not like Q stating that she would not be able to leave with them. Those who knew Q understood that they couldn't do anything about it, but they were going to try to protect their colleague any way they could.

Q snapped his fingers and everybody in the room froze in their place except himself and Ms. Rogers. We could hear the conversation but could not otherwise interfere. Q then went on to explain that Amanda Rogers had been responsible for the destruction of the Borg cubes just minutes ago. She was in fact a Q, she just didn't know it. The Continuum had debated whether or not to let her go since she had not exhibited any Q like powers. But when she destroyed the Borg cubes with her mind just moments ago, they decided that she could not coexist with everyone else until she learned to harness her natural abilities. It would be much too dangerous for everyone since she would be a god amongst mortals. He also explained that such power, in an individual who did not understand how to use it would wreak havoc on all of existence.

Ms. Rogers was left with no choice and departed the ship with Q but promised to visit us in the new universe once she learned how to do so and if the Continuum allowed. Q merely watched but did not comment on her parting words. Before he left, he gave me some words of advice about the new universe and reminded me that while we were escaping the Borg, it did not mean we were out of danger and that we should still be prepared to defend ourselves. Then with a snap of his fingers the two of them disappeared.

END FLASHBACK

A few hours later, a wormhole appeared on schedule and all the ships, shipyards, Starbase 375 and the Cardassian ore processing station the Bajorans renamed the Prophet proceeded to make the journey into the new universe.

What had started out as a fleet of over a thousand ships had been reduced to just over seven hundred. The makeup of the ships had also been drastically altered. Before the Borg attacks, there were almost three hundred combat ready ships all in various states of readiness. After the attacks, the fleet was left with about fifty capital ships. The Enterprise and the Odyssey were the only surviving Galaxy class ships and the Enterprise had to abandon its damaged Battle Bridge. Three Akira class ships survived as well as a dozen Nebula ships. The rest were older generation ships like the Ambassador and Excelsior class ships or smaller vessels. The rest of the fleet was composed of non Starfleet ships and transports. Most were filled to overcapacity with civilians just like the Starbase, shipyards and the Prophet station.

When we emerged from the wormhole, we scanned the system and found it to be similar to the one we had just left. The differences were readily apparent though because there were no Bajorans in the system. In fact, more detailed scans showed a thriving civilization had once existed on the planet but had died out thousands of years ago. It was decided that the fleet would settle on the planet, build up an infrastructure and manufacture more ships before trying to head to Federation space in this universe.

* * *

The last two years was dedicated to the building of new ships rather than the refitting of older ones. The fight against the Borg demonstrated that more firepower was needed and the refitting of ships was a waste of resources. The shipyards immediately began the construction of Defiant class ships because the prototype had proved to be more effective in combat against the Borg than any other vessel. They also rushed production of ships that were in the pipeline including the Intrepid class ships and the Sovereign class ships. In addition, plans were already in place for a new ship class currently in development known as the Prometheus class which should greatly enhance the fighting ability of the new Starfleet. But a prototype of that ship was still at least a year away.

In addition to building a new fleet, new weapons technology was developed by a group of teams headed by Admiral Paris. His teams have increased the shields of the new ships to emulate the Borg model. The newer ships are now equipped with a regenerative shield which would make the ship virtually invulnerable to attack from a beam weapon after a couple of blasts. A Ferengi scientist is also heading up the development of a new type of shield called a metaphasic shield which might be even more impressive. Theoretically, a ship with such a shield system could withstand the pressure and energy of a star's corona.

A team headed by Lieutenant Crusher recently came up with ablative hull armor generators which would wrap a ship with a secondary layer of protection if weapons got through the shields. This new technology was amazing because a ship like the Defiant with ablative armor could survive several phaser blasts from a Galaxy class ship without the use of its shields. The new ablative hull armor was even better because it was far stronger than the regular ablative armor.

Another team was working on improving on the newer torpedoes. Already, all new ships being built are armed with the quantum torpedoes that had been somewhat successful against the Borg ships. Currently, they were the deadliest weapon in the arsenal. But a new team is working on an improved torpedo known as a transphasic torpedo. However, this development is in its earliest stages and a working prototype might not be ready for another decade.

In addition to these new weapons, all capital ships would be installed with the new interphase cloaking device. The only reason Starfleet ships were not equipped with a cloak was because of the Treaty of Algernon it signed with the Romulan Star Empire decades ago. But that treaty no longer applies in this new universe. The Federation version of the cloak not only prevents other ships from detecting a cloaked ship, but would allow the cloaked ship to pass through solid matter.

The past two years also saw a radical change in the culture of the people who fled from the Borg. The term "civilian" can no longer be applied to anyone since everyone was sent to the new Starfleet Academy for training. Since our population had been reduced drastically from the hundreds of billions, even possibly over a trillion sentient beings in the Federation to just slightly over one and a half million, everyone had to adjust to the new reality. The Bajorans who were not a part of the Federation before our journey into this universe are now a member race. Because of the presence of the wormhole in their system, they were able to evacuate thousands of people in the few ships they had and they also put thousands more into the abandoned Cardassian ore processing station.

The last two years also saw us slowly exploring the space around us. We knew that this was a different universe because of the lack of life on Bajor and a close examination of the stellar charts showed that there was a small difference in the location of the stars in this universe. The exploration however was limited to only five light years or so because we because we did not want our presence to be known until a new fleet of ships could be built to defend the new home world that we have settled on. After our encounter with the Borg, we became a lot more aware of the possibility of a hostile first contact. That and the fact that most systems we came across contained no sentient life. Or civilizations that were in the pre-industrial development age.

Because most of the Federation leaders had been assimilated or killed in the years of combat against the Borg, a new Federation council was elected and the first President of this new Federation was none other than a former Captain of the Enterprise, Ambassador Spock. Surprisingly, only three admirals had made the journey into the new universe. In addition to the death of Fleet Admiral Shanthi, three other Admirals had died in the Bajoran system. Currently Starfleet Command was headed by a committee of three Admirals. The highest ranked officer alive in the fleet is Admiral Alynna Nechayev. She would be in overall charge of the new fleet of ships and responsible for the new Academy. Vice Admiral Ross remained commander of Starbase 375 and was put in charge of the shipyards as well as the Prophet ore processing station. Rear Admiral Paris was in charge of Starfleet Engineering and Intelligence.

President Spock and Starfleet Command gave me command of a new mission to head up a task force for the exploration of space in this universe that had been Federation space in our universe. This task force is comprised of five ships. My old ship, the Enterprise D, or rather the saucer section is now being used as a transport vessel in system since it lost its warp engines when the Battle Bridge was destroyed. I have been given the command of a new ship, the Sovereign class USS Enterprise E, the second Sovereign class ship built. The first would remain behind to guard the new Federation. In addition to the Enterprise, my task force also includes one Intrepid class ship, the USS Voyager under the command of Captain Janeway. Her strong science background would be useful in the exploration of this new universe. The third ship of my task force is an Akira class ship under the command of Captain Maxwell and is also equipped with a dozen Peregrine fighters. His aggressive style of command would be needed if the task force encountered a dangerous race. The last two ships of my task force would be two Defiant class vessels, the Defiant and the Valiant. The Defiant is under the command of Commander Sisko who helped in the development of the ship. Newly promoted Commander Shelby, formerly the first officer of the Enterprise would command the Valiant. In addition to the exploration of Federation space, our other duty is to establish a subspace communications network. This network would be composed of subspace relays equipped with cloaks and a passive defense network.

It's amazing to see the changes that have occurred in our way of thinking. Before our fight against the Borg, it was rare that five ships would travel together as part of a task force. Before the Borg, it was almost unthinkable for Federation ships to have ships equipped with a cloaking device. And the ships were almost like nothing the Federation had seen. His small task force was armed to the teeth and would be more than a match for any ship up to and probably including a Borg cube. But of course, the people in this universe might be more deadly than the Borg as Q had mentioned.


End file.
